A radio host living in Texas has recently recounted the horrors his wife was forced to endure when trying to terminate a pregnancy following an incomplete miscarriage in post-Roe America.
The chilling story, posted to platform X (formerly Twitter) has forced many to imagine what devastation American women with no advocates or any kind of platform must be going through when it comes to seeking basic healthcare in the country.
“My heart is broken,” Ryan Hamilton wrote on platform X. “As friends & family know, my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child, & about to begin her 2nd trimester.”
“A few days ago she had severe pains, & bleeding, and had to go to the emergency room. There, it was discovered that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Devastated doesn’t come close to what that feels like.”
Unfortunately, because of where the couple lives, their health troubles were only just beginning. Ryan’s wife Jess had an “incomplete miscarriage” and needed to terminate the pregnancy.
In Texas, abortion is illegal in most cases, with the only exceptions being to save the mother’s life, or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function”. The laws are written so ambiguously, many physicians are left to question what situations constitute the exceptions and many women are forced to face the life threatening consequences of this ‘pro-life’ legislation.
In Jess’ case, Ryan says that when his wife went to the doctor, they, at first, gave her a medication that would “get the baby out” and sent them home to handle this process by themselves.
“I’ll let you decide how you feel about that,” writes Ryan, adding that “After a long, painful night of the equivalent of early labor, the baby was still with her.”
“So, we went back to the Emergency Center to get the [second] dose. A new doctor was on call. He was an older man. You could hear him in the hallway as he said, “I’m not giving her a pill so she can go home and have an ab*rtion!”. Being well aware that our baby no longer had a heartbeat.”
“Then, he came into the room to say, and I quote: “Considering the current stance. I’m not going to prescribe you this pill”. Then, just sent us on our way.”
“The “CURRENT STANCE”?! Did he really just say that?!”
“No one should ever have to hear their wife say: “Get this dead baby out of me!”.”
With no medical help given, Jess’s bleeding and pain continued, so the couple went to a new hospital hoping they “might have better luck”.
Ryan writes that the procedure they were seeking was call a D&C [dilation and curettage], which he describes as “scart & traumatising, but sometimes necessary in situations like ours. Especially in emergency circumstances.”
A D&C is primarily a diagnostic procedure to sample the endometrium (lining of the uterus) but may also be used to treat conditions such as incomplete miscarriage. The procedure removes tissue from inside the uterus (womb).
At the next hospital, Jess and Ryan were asked many questions in relation to confirming that the baby didn’t have a heartbeat, and then left for hours without care.
“It’s becoming clear that they’re primary concern is NOT my wife’s health. Instead, they seem to be worried about the legalities involved,” writes Ryan.
Texas’ abortion law prohibits physicians from performing abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, and these physicians, Ryan said, decided there wasn’t “enough of an emergency” to perform D&C but prescribed them with another dose of medication for them to try at home again.
After another long day of labour pains for Jess, Ryan says he discovered his wife unconscious in the bathroom.
“Having to pick my wife’s cold, limp body off of that bathroom floor, not sure if I was about to lose her, is something I will NEVER forget,” he writes.
“She had to be rushed to the hospital. By this point she had lost so much blood, and bodily fluid, her body gave out.”
Thankfully, doctors were able to stabilise Jess, but Ryan said in his post that now, “not only do we have to live with the loss of our baby… we have to live with the nightmare of what we just experienced because of political and religious beliefs. MY WIFE’S HEALTH SHOULD HAVE COME FIRST. PERIOD!”
“If you think your “Pray To End Ab*rtion” sign in your yard is “Christian”, I suggest you revisit the teachings of Jesus and try again. If you support these laws that make ab*rtion illegal, and result in people being put through what we just were, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I’ve never been so angry, or heartbroken… and the devastation I’m feeling must pale in comparison to what my poor wife is feeling.”
Since sharing the story, Ryan said he’s received “countless” messages of support and condolences, but is seeing messages from “pro life people” criticising his decision to share the reality of women’s health in America.
“I was ready to fight when I shared our story, and all of this ignorance and vitriol is only fueling that fire,” he wrote on Tuesday.
“The shocking level of stupidity, and cruelty in response to what we just went through is only overshadowed by the countless messages of support. To all of you: THANK YOU. We are finding some solace in the middle of this madness.”